Torquay United Fans Forum

Another game played for Barnet and definitely running away from [b][i]us[/i][/b] as opposed to running away with [b][i]it[/i][/b].

Those with long memories will remember numerous times when we were [b][i]"running away with the Division"[/i][/b] by the end of October then form collapsing during November to February. The concerning and worrying factors being the collapse of form at the end of September.

Looks like it'll be a long, hard, lonely cold winter on the open spaces of the Popside.

Some people aren't happy unless they find something to complain about. For heaven's sake, there are many far more important issues in the world to be concerned about.. :(

[quote="leetufc"]I can remember a few occasions where ex Torquay players have come and presented our half time draw despite being employed at other clubs - nobody called that ridiculous or kicked up a fuss. To do so when LY does it at Argyle is hypocritical and unjustified.

We were never going to fork out extra money so he could go to an away game just to sit in the stands, and I imagine all the players not in the squad stayed behind, not just Young. I also don't think for one minute he would have done this without speaking to anyone first.

He's also a Plymouth boy and fan, and as supporters of Torquay we should still be able to recognise that his love of their club is not just going to go because he's now employed and playing for us. He will still follow their results and probably wants them to succeed as they are the club he supports. That doesn't mean he doesn't want us to do well or that he has no allegiance to Torquay, but it's a simple fact that you don't just stop supporting your first team because you move to a rival. If I was lucky enough to be good at football but played for Argyle, my main club would always by Torquay no matter who I played for.

He's been our best player by a long way this season and is a cut above anyone else in the squad, and for him to get criticism is the ridiculous thing in all this.[/quote]

I can remember ex-players doing the draw at Plainmoor too - but not at the SAME TIME their club was playing. I get that Young supports Plymouth and have no problem with him watching them - but not while we are playing too. As we're going out of the FA Cup, where is our captain? Doing the 50-50 draw at Home Park. You couldn't actually make it up. I'm pretty sure Downes came to watch us during an away game while he was banned. As I mentioned, Young may have been given permission to visit Home Park, but that shouldn't have happened. It just smacks of unprofessionalism. He represents our club and when you take into account Thea's battle cry earlier in the week, it's quite laughable that the captain of the Yellow Army was instead watching another game. Perhaps I'm over-reacting. I'm still peed off with yesterday's performance and result but it frustrates me when the fans are being urged to travel to Aldershot to get behind the team because of how important the match is to the club, but our suspended skipper is told he can stay behind and pop down to Home Park instead. I thought we were all in this together?

I saw on Twitter Luke Young was at some fan festival down at Argyle yesterday.

Would his appearance at the game have changed anything?

I can remember a few occasions where ex Torquay players have come and presented our half time draw despite being employed at other clubs - nobody called that ridiculous or kicked up a fuss. To do so when LY does it at Argyle is hypocritical and unjustified.

We were never going to fork out extra money so he could go to an away game just to sit in the stands, and I imagine all the players not in the squad stayed behind, not just Young. I also don't think for one minute he would have done this without speaking to anyone first.

He's also a Plymouth boy and fan, and as supporters of Torquay we should still be able to recognise that his love of their club is not just going to go because he's now employed and playing for us. He will still follow their results and probably wants them to succeed as they are the club he supports. That doesn't mean he doesn't want us to do well or that he has no allegiance to Torquay, but it's a simple fact that you don't just stop supporting your first team because you move to a rival. If I was lucky enough to be good at football but played for Argyle, my main club would always by Torquay no matter who I played for.

He's been our best player by a long way this season and is a cut above anyone else in the squad, and for him to get criticism is the ridiculous thing in all this.

If that's true - and I have no reason to doubt Stefano unless he's got his wooden spoon out again - then that is quite ridiculous. Luke Young is employed by our club and should not be at bloody Home Park the same time as we are playing. How tin-pot is that? The only reason he wasn't playing is because of his ill discipline and instead of leading by example and supporting his team-mates, he's pandering to his old club who chucked him on the scrap heap in the summer. It would be like Danny Welbeck doing the half-time draw at Old Trafford while Arsenal were playing at the same time. Can you imagine the uproar that would cause?

Of course, we don't know all the facts. Young may have requested to travel to Aldershot and was told we couldn't afford to pay his expenses. Hargreaves or the board may have given him permission to visit Home Park instead but, either way, this is another example of how unprofessional our club is. Someone deserves a slap on the wrists because Young should have been forced to watch our game or, if he was told to stay behind to rest, he should have done exactly that and listened to the match on the radio.

Perhaps the fans should do the same the next time we play at home? If our captain can't be bothered to watch our team, then maybe we should all bugger off to Home Park as well.

The real answer to the Thread Question should be .... who cares?

As there will be about 16 teams between ourselves and the league champions, it does not matter at all who wins it.

This is worse than the really bad days of the 1980's. At least with a crap team and less than a 1000 attending we were still in the Football League ... and I can never remember a Torquay United captain in the past doing the half time draw at Home Park while his team mates are going out of the FA Cup and not qualifying for the First Round for the first time since 1924. Well the second bit is irrelevant as it has only happened today, but what a disgraceful snub from our captain. Made in the image of C... oh f"ck it I can't be bothered!

You couldn't make it up. It's gone beyond a joke! :B

OK, if we had Valdes in goal then. **** me, I'm just trying to pick a decent stopper. Sentiment remains the same, fill in the details however you like.

Matt.

Don't be so sure that Mildenhall in goal would put all things right. He has been at fault quite a few times this season As for looking at the highlights of your games I would suggest that your defence is very slow and therefore does not help your keeper.You have an eye for goals and I agree your keeper is very poor but to blame him entirely is a little unfair as some of the goals which he has been at fault with have also not been helped by poor marking and lack of winning balls into the box or over the top.. We have the opposite problem. If we had a decent goalscorer we would without doubt be up with Barnet as we concede very few and create a fair amount of chances each game.

[quote="Gullscorer"] :goodpost: Ferrarilover makes a good point (or two)..[/quote]
Yes I thought that when I read it. Then I thought ... best not encourage him! ;-)

:goodpost: Ferrarilover makes a good point (or two)..

The depressing thing is that Barnet are miles and miles too shit to be a L2 club. They'll go up this year under Martin Allen, who will then, inevitably, be taken by a L1 club (at which he'll **** it up, like he always does) and Barnet will bob along at the bottom of L2 for another couple of years, before finally being relegated again. At which point, Martin Allen will return (for what, the 5th time?) and they'll pick up again. They're like Sunderland. Quite capable of winning the Championship with eleventy billion points, utterly incapable of mustering more than about 3 goals all the next year in the Premiership.

As for "anyone can beat anyone", that simply isn't true in the Conference. I'm pretty sure Telford played as well as they could possibly play against us. They couldn't have done more. Alright, they beat us, but they beat us solely because of one person. If we'd signed a different goal keeper in the summer (something over which Telford had no control, so the fact that we didn't is irrelevant), we'd have beaten them by quite a margin, away, with them playing at their absolute best.

Yes, other teams do have to travel a long way to get here, but A) they don't have chuckles the **** clown running the finance department, so they stay in a hotel the night before and B) for every 1 trip they make of 350 miles to get down here, they get 10 which are a five minute jaunt down the road. EVERY game for us is a minimum of 130 miles and I wouldn't mind betting that our average is well over 200 miles. On a coach. A couple of hours before engaging in professional level sport.

We are comfortably outplaying the majority of sides we are facing. In the outfield (one for you there, USA), we're the best side I've seen so far and by a distance. It's in goal where we struggle and it's where we are haemorrhaging points. If we had Mildenhall instead of our present incumbent, Barnet would have a thread on their board asking "are Torquay running away with it?"

Matt.

Brucie your judgement of Rice is a little harsh. Some goals conceded have been due to goalkeeper errors; others have been the result of individual defensive errors by other players; others have been caused by mix-ups and mis-understandings between goalkeeper and other defenders.

Friendlygas makes a good point.

You are bound to beat the two teams you mentioned because they are both garbage. As for saying that three players are at fault everytime you concede a goal - you are talking out your rear end.
If the keeper clears the ball and kicks it straight against the arse of the opposing centre forward who is standing a yard away believe me that is only one persons fault. Or when your keeper tries to tip a routine header over his crossbar and flaps it into the net you know you are in trouble.
Take a look at our "highlights" over the last five games or so - then come back on here and apologise for not knowing what you are talking about.
If we persist with Rice in goal we will most likely finish in the bottom eight.

Barnet have gained three points on Tuesday and that is the same three points which every team get for a win. You don't win anything in October and that is the situation. Barnet are there to be caught and every team has one game in hand of them and I believe Braintree. A couple of clubs (yourselves) have two games in hand.
The secret is to win your games no matter when they are played and concentrate on your own games. I am sure Barnet will have a bad spell in the season and some would say they have been having a pretty poor spell recently. We had our first dfeat in 10 last week and are still 10 points behind them so all I would say at this stage is Well done Barnet you are where you deserve to be.
I see there is a lot of criticism of your goalkeeper on here and the points he has cost you but at the end of the day it is a team game and there are probably three players who are at fault in some way EVERYTIME a goal is scored and from what I have seen in this league every team on their day is capable of beating another side irrespective of their position.
Have to say Barnet are the best team we have played this season by a country mile but our problems are not our goalkeeper but the opposite- we are struggling to score over 1 goal a game so although we are well adrift of Barnet i would still not consider them out of reach if we can find ourselves a goalkeeper.
The interesting thing with this league is that we seem to be following you with our fixtures as our next two games are both the same potential banana skins which you faced recently- Telford and Alfreton. I will lay odds that Hawley will score against us as over the years I have thought he was absolutely crap but is one of those players who usually scores past us.